Trending in the Right Direction: A Data for the People Progress Report on California's Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System. #Data4thePeople

Education Trust-West. 1814 Franklin Street Suite 220, Oakland, CA 94612. Tel: 510-465-6444; Fax: 510-465-0859; Web site: https://west.edtrust.org/

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12

Policymakers

State Programs; Statewide Planning; Data Collection; Information Dissemination; Database Management Systems; Information Management; Management Information Systems; Cooperative Planning; State Departments of Education; State Aid; Social Services; Partnerships in Education; Evidence Based Practice; Equal Education; Educational Discrimination; Nondiscriminatory Education

In 2019, California passed legislation that called for the creation of its longitudinal data system, the Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System. Since then, the state has allocated $40.52 million in funding to support the agency's efforts. Given the substantial state investment and the potential for more, better, and accessible data to answer critical policy questions and guide fairer educational resource allocation, in 2019 a set of five Data 4 the People principles were proposed. Advocates shared that these principles were important to guide equity-minded policy design, development, and implementation of the data system. This report uses those five principles to assess the C2C Data System's progress to date and whether the system is being designed and implemented such that: (1) Data can be used to inform systemic, asset, and equity-oriented change; (2) Data and tools produced are accessible and publicly available; (3) Student privacy is protected; (4) All students are counted with the ability to disaggregate; and (5) Students and families are meaningfully engaged. Findings suggest that significant progress has been made with respect to each of the five principles. In addition, several areas are identified that, at this critical juncture in the system's development, require more attention so that implementation will more strongly align with the principles. A set of recommendations are offered that include additional steps state leaders must take to ensure that the system centers accessibility, transparency, and equity.

ERIC

2025

ED671418